Eggs!

The hens came "into lay" about 2 weeks ago and we're getting about three a day right now. They're cute little pullet eggs, X Small, but the yolks are bright orange like proper eggs ought to be. Yesterday, I stalked Salvadora, our mini hen, until she laid her egg in the coop and was surprised to discover that hers are the same size as the standard hens'! Sal's eggs are the very palest buff color while the rest are light brown so when someone goes broody I'll be able to select for more Seabrights! They're really neat birds.

Canned Meat

Back in the spring I had Mr. Fuzzy bring home a proper country ham from the Moonlight Bar-B-Que in Owensboro, KY. We were going to share it with company (soon) but we never could quite get things under control so it hung in the cool basement for six months. Last week or so I finally gave up and baked it for us as the mold layer (completely normal) was starting to bother Mr. Fuzzy's allergies.

Consulting my old time recipes, I baked it with water in the pan and it was pretty good. One of the great features of these things is they have so much salt in them that it's perfectly safe to leave one in the fridge for a month of nibbling. Unfortunately it turned into a brick upon cooling. Neither of us dared cut into it for fear of goring ourselves with a slipped knife. That wouldn't have been fun.

Yesterday, though, I hit upon the solution.... it went into the pressure cooker for a few hours along with some lightly spiced water. When it emerged a few hours later it was like the finest pot roast you've ever seen. This morning I warmed it up again and canned most of it for later when we want a "convenience meal." The meat is, of course, packed in red eye gravy.

We have 7 pints and 2 quarts sitting in the pantry now. Mmmmm!

Scottish-American Pride

My friend Em posted this picture on her Facebook page. It was taken at the Carroll County (agricultural) Fair, which is was this weekend. Floyd is largely German but the surrounding counties have more Scottish and Scots-Irish ancestry. As you can see, some food preferences may be hard-wired in the genetic code of various ethnic groups.

I am told it was a popular concession.

Harvest Festival

Mr. Fuzzy went into town this morning and came back with the report of "no parking whatsoever." Hmmmm? A Saturday in high summer with all the tourists gawking at novelties like non-chain hardware stores is one thing but after Labor Day??? Since I'm more willing (than he is) to walk a distance to procure good things from our wee farm market I decided to venture into the fray anyway.

Turns out this was the day for our "county fair" ... such as it is. This year it was all over town and, I hear, there were even a few animal exhibits. It certainly brought the people out enough to make today a bumper day for the regular marketers. Rocky and I bought bio-dynamic greens, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes and peppers. We passed on the organic beef and pork as I already have some in the freezer. We can buy Highland beef at the local stores any day of the week.

Our marketing done, Rocky got to take a nap in the car while I went up to Blackwater Loft, our local coffee shop, to get a tea and thirty pounds of used grounds and banana peels for the garden. The same folks have a roasting business called Red Rooster Coffee Roaster downstairs. They decorated their window most beautifully for the festival but the roasting machine inside was the best part.

Thanks for Putting Up with Us!

If you look over at the sidebar you'll see I've updated the tally on what we've "put up" off the farm so far in this, our first, year. Next year I hope to have more in the "dried" category but that nasty little moisture problem needs to be dealt with first. Thankfully, I've now got a handle on my every-time-the-barometer-moves-my energy-hibernates problem so I'll be better prepared for quickly dealing with the bounty NEXT year!!!! At least one stone has been cleared from that path!

Or, I guess, later this year if those beautiful tomatoes ever color up! We've not had enough sun in the last month to make the tomatoes turn red in any numbers. Well..... ANY number until yesterday. I can always make my Grammie Starbird's vegetable relish and lots of fried green tomatoes if I get impatient. What I really want is to make jars and jars of tomato sauce because we eat a lot of it in the winter.

So far we have a year's worth of jams, jellies, sauces, and pickles.... not too bad for a first try!

Well Hush My Mouth!

I'm sure we don't qualify for the pinko-greenie-sustainable nut badge from the Green Crusaiders but I do try to shop in a little more ethical and sustainable way than "on average." (It also happens to be a bit healthier and cheaper too.)

We do USDA Organic at the grocery where possible, choose loose veggies over the shrink wrapped stuff, use biodegradable detergents, LED and fluorescent light bulbs, along with eating local pastured eggs and dairy. One of our exceptions, though, is soup. The "ethical" brands are uniformly pretty lousy in the flavor department so Mr. Fuzzy gets stuff from the "conventional" isle. (Do they separate them to prevent cross-breeding?) You might appreciate my surprise when I started reading the label on Campbell's "Select Harvest" soups:

The ingredients are composed of actual food.
The label is printed with soy ink.
The label is of 75% recycled fiber.
The line has no MSG, no colorings, no unpronounceable additives and relatively low sodium.

And it doesn't cost a fortune or taste like crap!

Way to go, Campbell's! You've beat Whole Paycheck at their own game while canning a soup that I, Mrs. Fuzzy, will willingly eat. That's no mean feat.

Dinner Out

Mrs. Fuzzy occasionally needs a break from being chained barefoot to the stove and Mr. Fuzzy has that intense hankering for a dish or two she doesn't know how to prepare... thus we have almost always treated ourselves to dinner out once a week. The choices "back home" were legion, although in the summer and ski season, tempered by how long the wait might be to have a table. Back home there were over 200 dining establishments; we know of five in Floyd.

Now that's not a bad thing. They're all good, and except for one not to be mentioned by name, inexpensive and the wait staffs are superb. About twice a month we drive northward on Route 221, a few miles from the village limits, to sample the cuisine at Pine Tavern. Next door is a wonderfully preserved (and functional) 1920s tourist court, the Pine Lodge. The meals are in two forms: individual and family style. For the latter, it is all you can eat, presented in serving bowls for the entire table - and for $11 a person! That is not a typo. You get meats (fried chicken, country ham, roast beef), a selection from a large number of sides, desert and your drink for that price. Moreover, it is well prepared, the waitresses are excellent and the ambiance appealing. Reed, the owner, is always present and always jovial.


So we went on Friday night, did NOT eat the family style (we cannot eat that much) but instead ordered from the menu. There was so much food that Mrs. Fuzzy could not finish her steak and Mr. Fuzzy also had some remaining roast beast dinner ($9.00)to take home the dog.

Well done, Reed, well done.

Staying on the Subject of Food...

Slaughter's
Grocery & Nursery

Here is the closest of the Floyd groceries to our house. Apparently it's quite famous in the tail of Virginia. Not only is it an old fashioned, family owned, grocery selling locally grown produce of a quality you could never hope to find at your city health food store but it's also a sizable garden center!

Let's go out for a meal...

Here you see the menu at our new "local,"
the Blue Ridge Restaurant.
Opens at 6 AM closes around 8 PM.

Country ham dinner with two vegetables $8.50
Vegetable plates also available!